Chronic pain affects millions of people and can make everyday life extremely difficult. It can interfere with work, relationships, and even simple activities like walking or sleeping. In the
United States alone, more than 51 million people suffer from chronic pain, and over 17 million of them experience such intense pain that it affects their ability to work or live normally.
Until now, people have mostly relied on strong medications like opioids to manage their pain. These drugs can be effective, but they also come with serious risks, including addiction, side effects, and long-term health problems.
Another option is using devices that stimulate the spinal cord to block pain signals before they reach the brain. However, these devices usually require complex surgeries, frequent battery replacements, and are expensive.
Now, a team of researchers from the Zhou Lab at USC and the Jun Chen Group at UCLA has created a new type of device that could completely change how chronic pain is treated. The device is called a flexible ultrasound-induced wireless implantable stimulator, or UIWI for short.
Unlike traditional spinal implants, this new device is small, wireless, and can adjust itself to a person’s specific pain needs. It also doesn’t need a battery. Instead, it uses ultrasound waves from a wearable device to power itself.
The way it works is both simple and smart. The implant is made from a special material that can turn sound waves into electricity—a process called the piezoelectric effect. An external wearable ultrasound device sends sound waves through the body, and the implant turns those waves into electrical energy.
This energy is then used to stimulate the spinal cord and block pain signals. Because it doesn’t use wires or batteries, the implant can bend and twist with the spine, making it much more comfortable for patients.
But the innovation doesn’t stop there. The device is equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) that helps it understand how much pain the person is feeling. It does this by analyzing brain signals, especially EEG signals that reflect pain levels.
A machine learning program then classifies the pain as slight, moderate, or extreme with nearly 95% accuracy. Based on this, the wearable device adjusts the amount of ultrasound energy it sends. The implant receives this energy and changes the level of electrical stimulation, providing the right amount of pain relief at the right time.
This creates a ‘closed-loop’ system where the device automatically senses pain and responds in real-time. This is a huge improvement over current systems that require manual adjustments and don’t adapt to changes in a person’s pain.
The researchers tested the new device on rodents and found that it worked very well. The animals experienced less pain from both mechanical and heat-based tests. In one experiment, rats chose to spend time in the part of a room where the device was turned on, showing that they felt better when it was active.
The future of this technology looks promising. The team hopes to make the implant even smaller, possibly small enough to be injected with a syringe. They also envision making the external ultrasound device more compact or even turning it into a wearable patch that can monitor and treat pain at the same time.
Eventually, the system could be controlled through a smartphone app, offering truly personalized and convenient pain relief.
This new technology could help millions of people live better lives without relying on addictive drugs or undergoing repeated surgeries. By using smart design and AI, it offers a hopeful new path for those suffering from chronic pain.
If you care about pain, please read studies about how to manage your back pain, and Krill oil could improve muscle health in older people.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how to live pain-free with arthritis, and results showing common native American plant may help reduce diarrhea and pain.
The study is published in Nature Electronics.
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